The Open Source Revolution in Government

Posted on by Natalie Gregory

Open source technology accounts for a significant portion of most modern applications, with some estimates going as high as 90%, and it is the foundation of many mainstream technologies. Its strength lies in the fact that a vibrant ecosystem of developers contribute to and continually improve the underlying code, which keeps the software dynamic and responsive to changing needs. Enterprise open source software further augments these community-driven projects by providing enterprise-grade support and scalability, while retaining the innovation and flexibility driven by the open source development model. By providing the best of both worlds, such solutions represent a powerful arsenal of tools for addressing government’s most pressing challenges. In a recent pulse survey of FCW readers, 93% of respondents said they were using open source technology. And more than half of respondents to FCW’s survey see open source as an integral resource for strengthening cybersecurity. That number reflects a positive trend toward a better understanding of open source software’s intrinsic approach to security. The power of enterprise open source technologies lies in a combination of collaboration, transparency and industry expertise. As agencies expand their use of such technologies, they maximize their ability to achieve mission success in the most secure, agile and innovative way possible. Learn how the combined power of community-driven innovation and industry-leading technical support is expanding the government’s capacity for transformation in Carahsoft’s Innovation in Government® report.

Why Open Source is a Mission-Critical Foundation

“Open source transforms the way agencies manage hybrid and multi-cloud environments. The most critical technology in the cloud, across all providers, is Linux. Everything is built on top of that foundation — both the infrastructure of the cloud and cloud offerings. Given the right partner, the promise of Linux is that it provides a consistent technology layer for agencies across all footprints, including multiple cloud providers, on-premises data centers and edge environments. From that foundation, agencies and their partners can build portable architectures that leverage other open source technologies. Portability gives organizations the ability to use the same architectures, underlying technologies, monitoring and security solutions, and human skills to manage mission-critical capabilities across all footprints.”

Read more insights from Christopher Smith, Vice President and General Manager of the North America Public Sector at Red Hat.

How Open Source is Expanding its Mission Reach

“The real power of open source technologies was revealed when they cracked the code on being highly powered, mission-specific, distributed systems. That’s how we are able to get insights out of data by being able to hold it and query it. Today, open source innovation is being accelerated by the cloud, and the conversation is still changing, with people now demanding that their open source companies be cloud-first platforms. Along the way, the open source technologies that start in the community and then receive a boost of commercial innovation have matured. The most powerful ones are expanding their ability to address more of the government’s mission needs. They are staying interoperable and keeping the data interchange non-proprietary, which is important for government agencies.”

Read more insights from David Erickson, Senior Director of Solutions Architecture at Elastic.

The Open Source Community’s Commitment to Security

“A central tenet of software development is visibility and traceability from start to finish so that a developer can follow the code through development, testing, building and security compliance, and then into the final production environment. Along the way, there are some key activities that boost collaboration and positive outcomes, starting with early code previews, where developers can spin up an application for stakeholders to review. Other activities include documented code reviews by peers to ensure the code is well written and efficient. In addition, DevOps components such as open source, infrastructure as code, Kubernetes as a deployment mechanism, automated testing, and better platforms and capabilities have helped developers move away from building ecosystems and instead focus on innovation.”

Read more insights from Joel Krooswyk, Federal CTO at GitLab.

The Limitless Potential of an Open Source Database

“One of the most important elements of any database migration is ensuring that proper planning and due diligence have been performed to ensure a smooth and successful deployment. In addition, there are some key considerations agencies should keep in mind when moving to open source databases. It is essential to start with a clear understanding of the business case and objectives for adopting an open source approach. Agencies also need to decide how the database should function and what it should do to support their digital transformation. Then they must choose the optimal method to deploy the database.”

Read more insights from Jeremy A. Wilson, CTO of the North America Public Sector at EDB.

Modernizing Digital Services with Open Source

“A composable, open source digital experience platform (DXP) enables agencies to overcome those challenges. Open source technology is continuously contributed to by a community of developers to reflect a wide array of needs across organizations in varying industries and of varying sizes. A composable approach allows agencies to assemble a number of solutions for a fast, efficient system that is tailored to their needs. When agencies combine a composable DXP with open source technology, they have access to best-of-breed software and the ability to customize the assembly to suit their requirements. An enterprise DXP will enable agencies to achieve a 360-degree view of how constituents are engaging with their digital services and gain valuable data to understand how to enhance their experience. Finally, a composable, open source DXP provides a proactive approach to protecting against security and compliance vulnerabilities.”

Read more insights from Tami Pearlstein, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Acquia.

Creating Secure Open Source Repositories

“Protecting the software supply chain requires looking at every single thing that might come into an agency’s environment. To understand that level of visibility, I like to use the analogy of a refrigerator. All the ingredients necessary to make a cake or pie are in the refrigerator. We know they are of good quality, and other teams can use them instead of having to find their own. At Sonatype, our software equivalent of a refrigerator is the Nexus Repository Manager. A second aspect of our offering, called Lifecycle, allows us to evaluate the open source components in repositories at every stage of the software development life cycle. One piece of software can download a thousand other components. How do we know if one of those components is malicious?”

Read more insights from Maury Cupitt, Regional Vice President of Sales Engineering at Sonatype.

Better Data Flows for a Better Customer Experience

“A more responsive and personalized customer experience isn’t much different from the initial problem set that gave birth to Apache Kafka. When people interact with agencies, they want those agencies to know who they are and how they’ve interacted in the past. They don’t want to be asked for their Social Security number three times on the same phone call. They also expect that the information or service they receive will be the same whether they are accessing it over the phone, via a mobile app and on a website. To elevate the quality of their service, agencies must be able to stream information in a low-friction way so different systems are consistent with one another and up-to-date at all times, regardless of the communication channel an individual uses. President Joe Biden’s executive order about transforming the federal customer experience is based on this capability. The most successful companies across industries have figured out how to do it, and for the most part, they’ve done it with open source software.”

Read more insights from Jason Schick, General Manager of Confluent US Public Sector.

An Open Source Approach to Data Analytics

“For the past 40 years, agencies have used data warehouses to collect and analyze their data. Although those warehouses worked well, they were limited in what they could do. For instance, they could only handle structured data, but by some estimates, 90% of agencies’ data is unstructured and in the form of text, images, audio, video and the like. Furthermore, proprietary data warehouses can show agencies what has happened in the past but can’t predict what might happen in the future. To achieve the government’s goal of evidence-based decision-making, agencies need to be able to tap into all their data and predict what might come next.”

Read more insights from Howard Levenson, Regional Vice President at Databricks.

Download the full Innovation in Government® report for more insights from these open source thought leaders and additional industry research from FCW.

The Best of What’s New in Government Customer Experience

Posted on by The Carahsoft Team

State and local governments faced a perfect storm of challenges at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pandemic response is now driving a more serious commitment to usability, accessibility and equity of government digital services. City and county officials ranked improving constituent experience and engagement as a top priority, trailing only cybersecurity, in the Center for Digital Government’s (CDG) 2021 Digital Cities and Counties surveys. And states ranked expanding and improving access to services as their top priority in CDG’s most recent Digital States Survey conducted in late 2020. Learn how your agency or municipality can adapt to this new environment, including taking advantage of COVID relief funds, modernizing IT infrastructure and expanding broadband in Carahsoft’s Innovation in Government® report.

Empathy Is Key to Exceptional Experience

“Migrating to cloud-based solutions should be a priority for organizations that are still using on-premises systems. As we’ve seen during the pandemic, cloud-native services let organizations respond, support remote work, scale and add new capabilities much more quickly during crisis situations. Gone are the days of hoping the next emergency doesn’t exceed your on-premises or hosted hardware’s capacity. AI and ML use cases will vary by organization, but the end goal is those who are able to use self-service can do so easily, those who opt out or have more complex needs can reach a representative, and representatives have the context they need to engage and resolve issues with empathy.”

Read more insights from Genesys’ Senior Solution Consultant for U.S. Public Sector, Christina Angel.

Digital Workflows That Empower Constituents

“Constituents are looking for a consumer-grade experience when they interact with their state and local governments. They expect government services to meet them where they are — meaning they want omni-channel 24/7 services in a seamless delivery format. They want answers in real time, as well as tools to help them find answers themselves. A great workflow allows rapid delivery of government services with intelligent case routing and automation. It reduces costs by enabling self-service, proactively answering common questions and providing automated service responses. Finally, it provides a single system of government engagement that supports digital transformation efforts to improve overall customer experience.”

Read more insights from ServiceNow’s Global Head of State, Local and Regional Government Solutions, Tom Yeatts, and CTO/Chief Architect of State and Local Government and Higher Education, Chris Dilley.

Modernizing Document Workflows to Improve Service and Equity

“The resident experience has a number of components. The first is engagement. Experiences should be immersive and intuitive and on par with user experiences in private sector companies. The second element is efficiency. The experience on the backend should be as functional as it is beautiful, meaning it reduces errors, optimizes workflows, automates processes and quickly delivers tangible value for the agency. The third aspect is effectiveness. Agencies must be able to measure and evaluate, almost in real time, how effectively they are engaging users and realizing a return on investment, and then adjust accordingly. The final component is trust. Organizations must demonstrate that they can protect mission-critical workflows and satisfy rigorous government and industry standards.”

Read more insights from DocuSign’s Vice President and Global Head of Industries, Michael (MJ) Jackson.

Reinventing the Customer Journey

“It’s listening to people and the frontline employees who serve them. Designers and CX professionals cannot always sit down with customers, but reviewing data through the right platform can make them feel like they are. You need the right technology — including “listening” tools, predictive intelligence, analytics and full closed-loop actioning capabilities — to gain a holistic understanding of your residents’ experiences and take the right actions that drive meaningful impact. Don’t overlook employee experience. Engaged employees are 4.6 times more likely to be customer-centric compared to disengaged employees. Part of engagement is feeling heard and valued. Always-on collaboration tools, where employees can submit and comment on ideas and feedback related to the resident experience, put the people closest to residents at the heart of your CX program and help you build a more resident-centric culture.”

Read more insights from Qualtrics’ Government Industry Advisor, Jill Leyden.

Adapting to New Customer Behaviors and Expectations

“A digital experience platform is an integrated set of technologies that supports the composition, management, delivery and optimization of contextualized digital experiences. It supports modernization efforts by providing a broad set of solutions for engaging constituents online. The digital world offers many possible touchpoints for residents. Trying to independently solve for each desired touchpoint can lead to a scrambled web of conflicting technologies, but taking a tech-first monolithic approach will lead to disappointing engagement. A digital experience platform offers proven patterns for providing meaningful engagement, while also allowing flexibility to architect each touchpoint according to the organization’s preferences.”

Read more insights from Acquia’s Digital Transformation Leader for Public Sector, Joshua Smith.

Video Teleconferencing Puts Humans at the Center of Interactions

“We’re seeing a lot of success with court applications. One great example is the Texas judiciary, which announced in February 2021 that more than 2,000 state judges had hosted a combined total of more than one million virtual hearings via Zoom since the pandemic began in March 2020. We anticipate courts and justice systems will continue to leverage videoconferencing in lieu of, or in combination with, in-person hearings due to the benefits it brings to witnesses, judges, jurors and other participants. In the social work realm, video teleconferencing helps increase access and care between in-person visits.”

Read more insights from Zoom’s Head of U.S. State and Local Government, Jennifer Chang.

Download the full Innovation in Government® report for more insights from these CX thought leaders and additional industry research from GovTech.

Building a More Secure Cloud

Posted on by The Carahsoft Team

Government officials nationwide had to accelerate modernization initiatives to ensure that teleworking employees could access networks and data from remote locations. For many agencies, that meant a higher reliance on cloud technology and a possible expansion of their cybersecurity vulnerabilities in an environment already attractive to hackers. In response to the security challenges raised by the cloud, the federal government has provided myriad foundational documents, guidelines and strategies to help agencies create a strong security posture, including the Cloud Smart strategy and Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP). Cloud technology has a crucial role to play in agencies’ ability to modernize IT systems and take advantage of the latest technological innovations. Given this importance, cloud adoption must keep pace with security efforts. Read the latest insights from industry thought leaders in government cloud security and FedRAMP in Carahsoft’s Innovation in Government^® report.

Cloud and the Customer Experience

“The emphasis on user-centered design is changing the way applications are created. In the past, many government applications were built from the perspective of the agency rather than from the perspective of the end user. The flexible, innovative nature of cloud technology makes it easier for agencies to improve the efficacy of their applications and what they ultimately deliver. In addition, cloud technologies can help agencies start getting a 360-degree view of how they interact with citizens, business partners and other agencies and even begin personalizing those experiences. In addition, software that manages, authenticates and verifies people’s credentials can ensure privacy while streamlining the customer experience. IDEA codifies the use of secure credentials across platforms and therefore will accelerate the use of trusted credentials in multiple environments so that people will be even more willing to conduct online transactions with the government.”

Read more insights from Acquia’s Vice President of Federal Sector, Peter Durand.

Why MultiCloud and Zero Trust Are Now Essential

“The coronavirus pandemic has underscored the government’s need to offer a secure cloud environment that allows employees to access their data and applications anywhere, anytime and at virtually infinite scale. Many agencies found themselves unprepared to support the sudden move to telework in response to the pandemic. Some didn’t have enough VPNs or smart-card readers for their employees’ remote devices, for example. Google Cloud customers that were already using G Suite or Cloud Identity were able to make the transition to telework smoothly without the need for VPNs or other special technology. That was due in part to G Suite’s reliance on a zero trust architecture, which shifts access control from the network’s perimeter to individual users and devices.”

Read more insights from Google Cloud’s Director of Federal, Shannon Sullivan.

The Route to Secure, Fast Cloud Adoption

“SASE and CNAP pull together a number of different technologies and categories. But those are point-in-time definitions. Technologies evolve and their functions change over time, so rather than think about what category of product they need, agencies should focus on what they’re trying to accomplish and the business outcomes they want to achieve. Agencies should look for a platform that was built natively in the cloud. It should apply persistent protection to sensitive information no matter where it goes; offer complete visibility into data, context and user behavior across the entire environment; and take real-time action to correct policy violations and stop security threats.”

Read more insights from McAfee’s Senior Vice President of the Cloud Security Business Unit, Rajiv Gupta.

Cloud Security Considerations for DOD Mission Partners

“Moving to the cloud requires a considerable level of effort and expense. Ensuring the security of applications or services running in a cloud adds another layer of complexity. When choosing a cloud service provider, organizations need to understand what security controls they will effectively inherit from that provider and what controls they will have to build and deploy on their own. For government agencies, FedRAMP provides a host of security levels and a robust number of security controls in a well-documented package, but Defense Department agencies also need to understand if they have any additional impact-level requirements for their applications and mission-critical data. As mission partners move to the cloud, they need to make sure that approved cloud providers can meet those baseline security and impact-level requirements.”

Read more insights from GDIT’s milCloud® 2.0 Cloud Services Portfolio Lead, Jeffrey Phelan.

The Evolution of Trusted Connections

“Under TIC 3.0, agencies can still use network proxies, cloud access security brokers, and security information and event management (SIEM) tools to build a strong security framework, but they don’t have to run everything through a TIC. And users don’t have to struggle with increased latency and network complexity. Instead, the end-user experience is streamlined because cloud-native tools are handling processes and workloads. Agencies end up with a clean omnichannel experience for employees because their location no longer matters. Whether they are working on an iPad at home or a desktop computer at a government office, the security level and user experience are the same.”

Read more insights from Okta’s Solution Engineer, Habib Hourani.

Cloud: One Size Does Not Fit All

“Cloud is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, finding the right fit depends on knowing agencies’ customers, the type of information they’re processing and their user base. Then it’s a question of aligning what the customer needs with the cloud offerings that are available. FedRAMP has been very successful at making that fit easier. The program brings transparency and consistency to the government’s use of cloud technology. Agencies know that an authorized company’s product or service has been rigorously reviewed under FedRAMP and that the government’s continuous monitoring program will provide information about how vulnerabilities are mitigated during the term of service.

Read more insights from SAP National Security Services’ Vice President and CISO, Ted Wagner.

How Cloud Makes Telework Smarter

“Smartsheet Gov enables employees to complete tasks more easily, efficiently and securely by working with systems on an automated or integrated basis. In addition, employees can access Smartsheet from wherever they are. They can share information and the results of their work via dashboards that multiple employees can view at one time and continue that seamless collaboration with their colleagues even when everyone is working from home. Smartsheet datasets are housed in a secure, FedRAMP-authorized cloud environment, which assures agencies that they can adhere to the same security protocols from outside the office. For example, if an agency needs to conduct a yearly audit that would normally take place with all the participants at a physical location, they can do the work remotely using Smartsheet Gov to run the same playbook, the same audit and the same workflow regardless of where those employees reside. Such borderless teams can reduce costs while increasing employee satisfaction and productivity.”

Read more insights from Smartsheet’s Vice President of Security, Risk and Compliance, Ignacio Martinez.

Visibility is Essential for Cloud Security

“The nature of an agency’s mission, data protection needs and other requirements suggest that multi-cloud and hybrid environments will be the norm. As we migrate to these new locales, there is an exponential deluge of data scattered across multiple systems and endpoints. It is critical that agencies have granular visibility into all the devices, workloads and applications running across these environments so that they can gain operational and security insights. The fidelity of data is another crucial factor because without it any technology has its limits and decisions may not ensure successful outcomes. To allay any fears about security, FedRAMP, a standardized framework for security assessments, was introduced. It has grown to be the gold standard for cloud security today.

Read more insights from Splunk’s Director of Industry Marketing for Public Sector and Education, Ashok Sankar.

How the Cloud is Redefining Security

“The Trusted Internet Connections Initiative was created in 2007 after the Office of Management and Budget conducted a study that found thousands of unprotected internet connections at agencies. Back then, we were using the internet mainly for email and web browsing, so when the government mandated that all internet traffic must go through a trusted connection, it made sense. But over the years, agencies have moved workloads to the cloud, and now employees’ activities rarely travel through an agency’s data center. As a result, TIC became a barrier to cloud adoption. The TIC 3.0 draft guidance, however, is a crucial step toward removing those obstacles.”

Read more insights from Zscaler’s Vice President of Global Government, Stephen Kovac.

Download the full Innovation in Government® report for more insights from these government cloud security thought leaders and additional industry research from FCW.

How the 21st Century IDEA Is Improving Government CX

Posted on by Peter Durand

Taking a page out of the private sector’s book, government agencies are digitally transforming to improve customer experience (CX) and increase customer engagement.

This transformation was mandated by the 2018 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA), which aims to improve the digital experience for citizens and increase efficiencies for government employees. The law was further refined by the US Web Design System (USWDS), comprehensive design standards released in January 2020.

Let’s look at what these changes mean for government agencies and the citizens they serve. We will also examine the challenges they pose and how technology can ease the transition.

21st Century IDEA

The private sector spent the past two decades optimizing its internet presence and CX, and consumers have come to expect a certain level of service and experience from all websites.

Government sites and apps proliferated at the same time — in 2019, there were over 14 billion sessions and 38 billion page views on federal sites. However, there were no federal guidelines compelling agencies to offer web experiences and services that met a base standard. The reputation of government sites subsequently suffered.

In response to constituent demand for better experiences, the 21st Century IDEA was born. The law mandates things like:

Using electronic signatures
Offering mobile-friendly digital options for paper-based forms
Prioritizing CX in the federal IT strategy
Making government sites accessible to individuals with disabilities
Having a search function
Ensuring government sites have a consistent appearance
No overlap or duplication of legacy sites

The New Standards of Design

The USWDS increased focus on citizen interaction, ensuring all websites and applications are designed from a user-centric perspective. It lays out five key design principles:

Start with real user needs. This principle brings user interface and UX exploration to the forefront. Instead of having design teams make decisions based on intuition, every experience is designed based on documented customer need.
Earn trust. Constituents must trust the security and reliability of government sites along with the relationship they have with the specific government entity.
Embrace accessibility. As part of the Americans with Disabilities Act, designers must account for basic design considerations (e.g., color and text size) as well as CX considerations (e.g., making sites accessible to screen readers for the visually impaired).
Promote continuity. Maintaining consistency through services over time and across agencies is a massive UX challenge, especially given the number of government agencies out there.
Design must demonstrate that the agency has listened to the audience — understanding the needs of users, their frequency of usage, and their reliance on processes — to prioritize where to make digital improvements.

Challenge Accepted

The challenges of the 21st Century IDEA are consistent with the typical government sector concerns: what’s currently in place, silos and fracturing due to SLAs, outdated technology and processes, and red tape for approvals. There are also some digital-specific concerns, such as:

Privacy when providing more intuitive, personalized digital experiences via cloud technology
Transitioning to cloud, particularly transitioning legacy systems for the digital experience
Measuring effectiveness of intangible goals like citizen engagement and brand improvement

Technology Easing the Transition

Technologies like these are making the transition to improved digital services easier and more effective:

Open source software (e.g., Drupal) that adds automation and machine learning for flexibility, customizability, scalability, and security
Analytics that allow government agencies to use data to determine and support decisions
Tech that digitizes federal paperwork, which is imperative given that one of the IDEA’s key goals is to digitize federal forms
fedRAMP-certifed platforms for the cloud to ensure security assessment, authorization, and monitoring
Identity management, authentication, and verification software to ensure privacy when passing people’s credentials

The Five-Year Impact

Five years is a long time in tech, but it is possible to make intelligent guesses about where we are headed.

The near future will hold more engagement in agency missions and governments, with all people empowered to participate no matter their abilities, devices, schedule, or location. Looking at the five-year timeframe, services could engage citizens to educate and inform them, allowing the government to help more people across the board. By creating more outwardly focused agencies, we are creating a stronger and better democracy.

| Carahsoft

Tag Archives: Acquia